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1914 World Series
In the 1914 World Series, the Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Athletics in a four-games sweep. A contender for greatest upset of all time, the "Miracle Braves" were in last place on July 4th, then roared on to win the National League pennant by 10-1/2 games and sweep the stunned Athletics. The Braves' relatively unknown starting trio of pitchers, with a combined career record of 285–245, outperformed the Athletics vaunted rotation (929–654) in all four games. Hank Gowdy hit .545 (6 of 11) with five extra-base hits and also drew five walks for Boston in the series and was the difference maker in Games 1 and 3. Adding to their supposed disadvantages, the Braves arguably lacked a notable home-field advantage. They had abandoned their 43-year-old home field South End Grounds, in late summer, choosing to rent from the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park while awaiting construction of Braves Field. Thus their home games in this Series were also at Fenway. This was the first four-game sweep in World Series history. The Cubs had defeated the Tigers four games to none in 1907, but Game 1 had ended in a tie before the Cubs won the next four in a row. In some circles , it was alleged that the A's were irritated at the penny-pinching ways of their manager/owner Connie Mack, and did not play hard. Chief Bender and Eddie Plank would jump to the rival Federal League for the 1915 season. Mack unloaded most of his other high-priced stars soon after and, within two years, the A's achieved the worst winning percentage in modern history (even worse than the New York Mets or the Detroit Tigers). There were also rumors that this series was fixed, but no evidence has ever been advanced. Summary NL Boston Braves (4) vs. AL Philadelphia Athletics (0) on October 12, 1914, for the third game of the 1914 World Series.]] Matchups Game 1 Friday, October 9, 1914 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 26 game winner Dick Rudolph scattered five hits while striking out eight as the Braves won the opener in convincing fashion against the Athletics ace, Chief Bender. Catcher Hank Gowdy had a single, double and triple as well as a walk in leading Boston's offensive attack. Gowdy was also involved in a double steal with Butch Schmidt in the eighth inning with Schmidt's theft of home accounting for the Braves final run. Game 2 Saturday, October 10, 1914 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Bill James, Boston's other 26 game winner, hooked up against Philadelphia's Eddie Plank in a classic pitcher's duel. James allowed only three base runners in the first eight innings, picking off two of them in holding Philadelphia scoreless. Plank matched him until the ninth when Charlie Deal's fly ball was lost by Amos Strunk in the sun for a double. Deal then stole third and scored on a two-out single by Les Mann. James walked two batters in the ninth, but got Eddie Murphy to ground into a game-ending double play to give Boston a 2–0 advantage in the series. Game 3 Monday, October 12, 1914 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts Lefty Tyler of the Braves went up against Bullet Joe Bush in a twelve inning thriller. Frank "Home Run" Baker's two out single in the tenth plated two runs to give the Athletics a 4–2 lead and a seeming victory to get them back in the series. But Hank Gowdy led off the bottom of the tenth with a home run and the Braves then tied the game on Joe Connolly's sacrifice fly later in the inning. Game 2 winner Bill James, coming on in relief for Boston in the eleventh, would get the win after Gowdy led off the bottom of the twelfth with a double and pinch-runner Les Mann scored when Bush threw wildly to third on a bunt by Herbie Moran, giving the Braves a commanding 3–0 lead in the series. Game 4 Tuesday, October 13, 1914 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts Johnny Evers' two out, two run single in the bottom of the fifth broke a 1–1 tie and the collective backs of the heavily favored Athletics as Boston completed the improbable sweep. Game 1 winner Dick Rudolph allowed only one base runner after Evers' tie-breaking hit and struck out seven in notching his second win of the series. Composite box 1914 World Series (4–0): Boston Braves (N.L.) over Philadelphia Athletics (A.L.) |}} Notes References *Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990. (Neft and Cohen 52-56) *Reichler, Joseph, ed. (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.), p. 2122. MacMillian Publishing. ISBN 0-02-579010-2. * External links * 1914 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com * [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/postseason/mlb_ws_recaps.jsp?feature=1914 1914 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)] * 1914 World Series at Baseball-Almanac.com * 1914 World Series box scores and play-by-play at Retrosheet.org World Series Category:Boston Braves Category:Philadelphia Athletics Category:World Series Category:1910s